Oranjestad, Aruba – A 19-year-old man detained in the disappearance of a young Alabama woman had never figured in the case before, lawyers said Monday, prompting speculation that authorities were taking a new approach to the case.

The announcement that someone was being held in the nearly year-old disappearance of Natalee Holloway was the first major development in months in the case, which has featured several false leads. Before Saturday’s arrest, seven people had been detained previously in the case and later released.

Lawyers for a Dutch youth and two Surinamese brothers jailed as suspects but later released because of insufficient evidence said the 19-year-old had not previously been mentioned in the case.

“This may be a watershed moment,” said Joseph Tacopina, who represents Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch teen who was with Holloway in the hours before she disappeared May 30. “I don’t think they are casually questioning him in this case.”

John Kelly, a lawyer for the Holloway family, said he was told by Aruban prosecutors that the detainee has friends in common with van der Sloot and the Surinamese brothers.

“The information this individual picked up is information related to the other three suspects,” Kelly said Monday on NBC’s “Today” show. “I was told it’s not a case breaker. It’s one step in the process.”

The detainee’s name has been reported by some media outlets, but Aruban authorities have only released his age and initials – “G.V.C.” He was scheduled to make his first court appearance today, the prosecutor’s office said.

Tacopina, who said his investigators had been in contact with Aruban authorities, said “G.V.C” was detained because police recovered a shirt belonging to him with “relevant forensic information” from the south side of the Dutch Caribbean island of about 72,000 people.

The prosecutor’s office has declined to specify the detainee’s alleged connection to Holloway – who was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot and the two Surinamese brothers, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

Tacopina, who represents van der Sloot in a civil suit filed against him by Holloway’s family, said the detention of “G.V.C.” was good news for his client because it suggested the investigation was heading in a new direction.

“This kid has been under an umbrella of suspicion for 11 months based on no evidence,” he said.

Van der Sloot has said he left Holloway, then 18, at a beach near her hotel after they kissed on the final night of her high school graduation trip.

Dave Holloway, Natalee’s father, told the “Today” show he was hopeful about the detention.

“It’s a very, very new name that hasn’t even been on the radar screens,” he said. “Maybe it’s a break in the case. Maybe it’s that card that will bring the whole deck down. We don’t know at this point.”

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